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UNITED; STATES PATENT @FFIQE.

GUSTAV L. JAEGER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

Box.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 245,261, dated August 2, 1881..

I Application filed June 11, 1881. (No model.) I I To all whom "it may concern:

Be it known that I, GUSTAV L. JAEGER, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Boxes, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention consists in the combination, with a box and its hinged cover, of a piece of elastic wire bent to form two shanks, which are situated in different planes, one shank being secured in the body of the box and the other in the hinged cover, so that the springwire has a tendency either to retain the cover in its closed position or to cause the same to fly open. One of the shanks of the sprin g-wire may be extended across the cover and made to form a loop adapted to engage with a button secured to the front of the body of the box, so that by the combined action of this button and loop the cover is retained in its closed position against the action of the spring-wire, and that by releasing the button from the loop the cover flies open.

This invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents a perspective view of my box, the spring-wire being applied so as to have a tendency to keep the cover closed. Fig. 2 is a similar view of a box when the spring wire has a tendency to throw the cover open, and one of its shanks extends across the cover to form a loop, said View showing the rear of the box. Fig. 3 is a similar view, showing the front of the box. Fig. 4 is a detached perspective view of the springwire. Fig. 5 is an end view of the same.

Similar letters indicate corresponding parts.

In the drawings, the letter A designates the body of a box, which may be made of pasteboard or any other suitable material, and which is provided with a cover, B, that is connected to thebody atone edge, so thatit can be opened, as shown in dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 2, or that it can be closed, as shown in full lines in Figs. 1, 2, and 3. If the box is made of pasteboard, the cover can be made out of one piece with the body, and by scoring or partly cutting through the material at the line of connection bet-ween the cover and the body a sort of a hinge-joint is produced, so that the cover can be opened or closed. The cover may, however, be made of a separate piece of material and connected to the body by astri p of m uslin, or by any other suitable means, whereby the desired hinge-jointis produced. With the body and the hinged cover of this box is combined a spring-wire, C, Fig. 4', which consists of a base, a, and two shanks, b c, the shank I) being secured to or in the body A, while the shank c is secured to or in the top of the cover B, as shown in Fig. 1. Now it is self-evident that it the shanks b c are parallel to each other, or situated in one and the same plane, the cover will be retained in apartly-closed position-that is to say, it will be held loosely against the top edge of the body A, but it will open by the slightest power; but if the two shanks I) care not situated in one and the same plane-fornistance, it the shank 0, instead of pointing in the same direction as the shank 0, points downward, (see Figs. 1 and 4,) the spring-wire retains the cover B with a certain force in its closed position, and the box can be freely handled without danger that its contents will drop out; orif the shank c is made to point upward in Fig. l the spring-wire has a tendency. to throw the cover open.

In its simplest form I apply the spring-wire to the box so that the shank 0 points downward in Fig. 1, and that by the torsional force of the base a the cover is retained in its closed position, and in this case the ends of the shanks are flattened, so that they can be readily forced into the body of the pasteboard composing the top and the body of the box. When the cover is raised the torsional force of the base a is increased,and when the cover is released itreturns to its closed position by said torsional force of the base a on the same principle on which torsional wires are used as door-springs. \Vhen the shank c of the spring-wire 0 points upward it has a tendency to throw the cover open, and in this case I extend said shank across the cover, (see Figs. 2 and 3,) and bend it so as to form a loop, (I, which projects downward, and is in position to engage with a button, 6, secured in the front side of the body A. (See Fig. 3.) By pressing this front side inward the button ebecomes disengaged from the loop (I and the cover B flies open. The wire may, however,

be bent into any other form, so that it forms a catch adapted to keep the cover closed without the button, and, if desired, this catch may be made of a separate piece of- Wire, or other piece of metal suitable for the purpose.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination,substantially as hereinbefore described, of the body ofa box, its hinged cover, the spring-wire, having the shanks b c situated in different planes, one shank being secured in or to the body A and the other in or to the cover B.

2. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore described, of the body of a box, its hinged 1 5 cover, the spring-wire, the shanks b c, situated in difl'erentplanes and fastened one to the body and the other to the cover, and the catch d,

formed at the end of the shank c, and means on the body of the box for engaging the catch. 20

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GUSTAV L. JAEGER.

Witnesses:

W. HAUFF, E. F. KASTENHUBER. 

